sunshine & blog awards

So lovely to have sunny days, when the mountains are clear in the distance and we barely need to wear our coats.

So much fun to receive comments on blog posts. Also fun to receive awards you didn’t even know you could get! Thanks, Michelle!

RULES TO ACCEPT THE AWARD:

1. Put the logo on your blog in your post.
2. Pass the award on to 12 bloggers.
3. Link the nominees within your post. [list below]
4. Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blogs.
5. Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award. [see above]

Below is a list of 12 blogs from my handy iGoogle page.

Family Camp 2010. Shauna Archer, moderator, set up this blog to prepare friends of Arlington Beach Camp and Conference Centre for 50th anniversary celebrations this July. I’m excited about that! I’ll be the official editor of The Fish Flyer daily news.

Shauna and her family recently returned from 2 (or was it 3?) years in Indonesia, which she blogged and I followed until she returned to Canada & stopped adding posts.  

Marketing Tips for Authors. Tony Eldridge is one of the most faithful bloggers I know of. Absolutely every work day there is a post from Tony. When he goes on vacation, he plans ahead for a guest blogger, otherwise there’s always something from him. And it’s unfailingly useful information. He makes me want to be a better writer, publisher, promoter, sales-person, etc., etc.

Rebekah Joy Plett, artist. Oh, this delightful, quirky girl has been such a blessing to me! She illustrated BlueBeary by Kathleen McMillan and the second book, too. We are eager for the day when we can hire her to finish the rest of the series (9 more books). Anybody care to sponsor the project?

lisa cornish | photography. Lisa is married to my cousin Don and I adore their entire family. Lisa has done a couple of photo shoots for me and I’m thrilled to see how hard she works on sharpening her eye and her skills.

Lisa’s daughter is the dancing, giggling pixie beside me in the video below.

Emily Wierenga. Here’s another artist-writer-deep-thinking-creative-woman. And new mother. Her creative work has continued and deepened with the birth of her long-awaited son. She forms pictures with paint, poetry, and prose.

Rosie Perera. Another thoughtful, writerly, creative woman. Rosie was involved in writing the original MS Word program (creative work to be sure). From Seattle she moved to Vancouver, where she and I overlapped at Regent College. She understands her vocation to involve helping people live well with technology, which blends technology with spirituality. She is also deeply interested and active in faith and arts. If you search her name on the internet you’ll soon find articles on both topics.

Dr. Chelle Stearns. Another Regent colleague, Chelle and I cheered each other across the finish line for our Masters degrees. She and her husband went on to Scotland where they both got doctorates. Chelle teaches theology at Mars Hill Graduate School and I’m in awe of (and grateful for) her ability to synthesize and integrate big ideas, especially those related to faith and the arts.

The Accidental Poet aka Accidental Housewife. (Which is it anyhow?) Sue and I first met at Write! Saskatoon where I was enthralled by the two workshops she led. The next year found me at the same conference on the same roster of workshop presenters and at the same restaurant afterwards, driving her around the city. Enthralled, I tell you. Sue inspired me to write more poetic things. She also makes me laugh hysterically and has promised to wear green and accompany me on my court day (March 17th) to contest my traffic ticket. Oh, and we’re both teaching at Write! Saskatoon again, driving together even further this time, all the way from Calgary.

Carol. Of course there had to be at least one Briercrest blogger on here. Actually, there are two, but Carol gets listed first. Carol and I met at Briercrest when I was a new professor and she was a new residence director and seminary student. She’s yet another creative woman who is also one of the most organized people I have ever met. Too many creative people sabatoge their potential for lack of order, but Carol is efficient AND aesthetically astute. Her especial skill is flower arranging. She also likes acting and, after several comedic roles (including Wicked Witch of the West), is doing her first serious role this spring as Anne Frank’s mother.

Bryan Moyer Suderman. I don’t even remember how I found this guy, but I was internet surfing for info about music and the arts and business models and sustainability (or something like that) when I happened upon his concept of Community Supported Arts. Brilliant. I became a member of Small Tall Music, started corresponding with him from time to time, and eventually co-hosted a concert with my brother in Duval. I blogged a bit about it and so did Bryan. Oh, and Bryan makes a cameo appearance early in this little video, recorded the night of his concert. He’s the first guy you see, sitting on the red couch, when the camera starts to pan.

A Holy Experience. Luminous. Transporting. This blog makes me want to be a better person, add more beauty to the world, all the while throwing myself on the grace and mercy of God. It also makes me want to be a homeschooler and a farmer. (Ann Voskamp is the only blogger I know of who is possibly more prolific than Tony Eldridge.)

Prairie Road. Erin Ortlund and I crossed paths as I was leaving Caronport, SK and she was arriving. After finishing a PhD in Scotland, her husband was taking a position teaching in the Bible/Theology department at Briercrest College and Seminary, and as Americans neither of them had lived in Canada before so Erin had been doing her “homework,” learning about her new home. Somehow she had learned about my blog, so knew quite a lot about me before we met in person. Though we lived in the same place at the same time for less than a month, we have followed one another via our blogs and have enjoyed the occasional visit in person.

By the way, Erin’s husband Eric contributes to Prairie Road, has a blog of his own (Scatterings) and contributes to yet another blog (Hosting the Text).